Almost every European country that gained independence after the First World War had one thing in common: with only one exception, they all tried to stimulate the growth of a national literature by commissioning translations ...

Critics have been declaring Irish playwrighting to be in a state of crisis for most of the last 100 years but, even so, it’s hard not to feel glum about the present state of our writing for the stage. The latest plays from ...

Perhaps unfairly, Marie Jones remains more noted for commercial rather than critical success. The Blind Fiddler – an exciting fusion of melodrama, traditional music, and great storytelling – looks likely to be as successful ...

One of the clichés of Irish theatre historiography is that drama in this country is excessively verbal – that our dramatists
write for the voice, but not for the body. But if you actually go to the theatre here, it soon ...

Minutes into Hurl, Charlie O’Neil’s play about a multi-ethnic hurling team, a ripple of discomfort sweeps through the audience. On stage, a man and woman have entered the house of an alcoholic ex-priest; understandably, ...

As Michel Tremblay’s play begins, we are told that we are not about to see a Three Sisters or a Hamlet. Instead, we are asked to witness the writer’s remembrance of Nana, his mother, whom he is summoning to the stage "for ...

The ramifications of the controversy over Sebastian Barry’s latest play echo well beyond the "Hinterland", argues Patrick Lonergan.
What, exactly, is so bad about Hinterland? Using aspects of the career of Charles ...

Dancing at Lughnasa premiered at the Abbey in 1990, and was produced in Dublin during five of the ten subsequent years – using the same director and designer every time. Our understanding of the play has therefore been ...

Optimism about contemporary Irish drama seems to have diminished recently. At the 2001 Irish Times/ESB Theatre Awards, a member of the judging panel lamented the scarcity of new Irish plays, stating that he wanted to ...